Cigarette case



Jan. 27, 1942. oux

CIGARETTE CASE Filed Feb. 14, 1940 A TTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 27, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE CASE JosephF. Rioux, Attleboro, Mass.

Application February 14, 1940, Serial No. 318,849

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a cigarette case and has for one of itsobjects to provide a cigarette' case which may be used for cigarettes oftwo different sizes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette case intowhich cigarettes of the long size may be placed in one direction andcigarettes of the heretofore common size may be placed in a direction atright angles thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide a single resilient armwhich will be so arranged as to hold the cigarettes in the section inwhich they are located regardless of the direction in which they areplaced.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, as will be more fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the cigarette case closed;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cigarette case open;

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are top plan views illustrating different shaped armsfor retaining cigarettes in one section of the case.

At the present time cigarettes are ofiered on the market which arelonger than cigarettes which have been customarily placed upon themarket for several years. Cigarette cases have been designed heretoforeon the basis of receiving the shorter cigarettes and in many instances,such cigarette cases are not suitable for receiving cigarettes of thenew longer size; and in order to obviate this difficulty, I haveprovided a generally rectangular cigarette case so dimensioned that itwill receive the short size cigarettes in a parallel arrangement whenextending in one direction and which Will receive the long sizecigarettes in a parallel arrangement when extending in a direction atright angles to the position of the short cigarettes, thereby making itpossible for the cigarette case to receive cigarettes of either size;and I have provided the cigarette case of duplicate opposed sectionswhereby cigarettes of one size may be retained in one section andcigarettes of another size retained in the other section, if the user sochooses; and the following is a more detailed description of the presentembodiment of this invention, illustrating the preferred means by whichthese advantageous results may be accomplished:

With reference to the drawing, I designates one section and II, anothersection of the body of the cigarette case. These sections are hingedtogether as at I2 by a spring hinge and there is provided a catch I3 inone section and a latch I4 on the other section to engage this catch forholding the sections in closed position.

The relatively short size or length cigarettes are indicated at I5, andthe relatively long size or length cigarettes are designated I6. Eachsection III and II is of a shallow dish formation of a depthsubstantially the depth of a cigarette. This dish formation has adimension parallel to the hing I2 which connects the sections such thatitwill just receive a full length short cigarette I5 as designated inconnection with section I 0, while the dimension of this shallow dishformation in each section at right angles to the hinge is of a length tojust receive a full length long cigarette I6. Thus, I may place in thecase short cigarettes I5 as shown in section I0 in Fig. 2 parallel tohinge I2 or long cigarettes I6 as shown in section II in Fig. 2 at rightangles to the hinge I2.

I have illustrated in Fig. 2 the short cigarettes placed in one sectionand the long cigarettes in the other section, but obviously, thisrelationship might be reversed; or I may retain in the case cigarettesI5 of the short length in each section or cigarettes I6 of the longlength in each section.

In order to hold these cigarettes in position I provide a retainingmeans 20 which is disposed in such a relationship that it will laterallycross all of the cigarettes regardless of which direction they arepositioned. In Fig. 2, two such members 20 are provided hingedly mountedon the pintle 2| of the hinge I2 and which are actuated by the spring 22having its ends 23 and 24 resting against the arms 20 and also servingas a means through which the sections of the case are swung open from aclosed position to an open position where the formation of the coverswill limit their opening relation to an angle a little greater than aright angle, as shown in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 2 I have shown this member 20 as an arm extending on a curvegenerally at an angle from its hinged connection across the case in onedirection and then reversing and extending at a different angle acrossthe case to the opposite side. This angular relationship is such as tocover th cigarettes regardless of which direction they are placed, ascan clearly be seen from a comparison of the two sections of the caseshown in I0 and II.

Other relations of retaining members may be I provided, as illustratedat 25 in Fig. 4, there being shown a question mark shape; or as at 26 inFig. 3, there being shown a cross shape; and of course various othermodifications of shape may be resorted to in accordance with theteaching of this invention.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the constructionillustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve theprivilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the deviceis susceptible.

I claim:

1. A cigarette case comprising a pair of gener ally rectangular bodysections, one of said sections being of shallow dish formation and of adimension in one direction substantially equal to cigarettes of onelength for receiving the same and of a dimension in a right angulardirection substantially equal to cigarettes of a difierent length forreceiving the same, and a cigaretteretaining clip hinged along one edgeof said dish section and extending therefrom to adjacent a second edgeof said section and another portion thereof positioned to extend fromadjacent a third edge of said section to the opposite edge thereof so asto overlie and retain any cigarettes placed parallel to and anycigarettes placed at right angles to one edge of said section.

2. A cigarette case comprising a pair of generally rectangular bodysections, means to hinge said sections along one edge, one of saidsections being of shallow dish formation and of a dimension in onedirection substantially equal to cigarettes of one length for receivingthe same and of a dimension in a right angular direction substantiallyequal to cigarettes of a different length for receiving the same, andcigaretteeretaining clip hinged along the edge hingedly con.-

necting said sections and hairing an arm extending therefrom to adjacenta second edge of said section and then extending from said second edgeacross to adjacent the other two edges of said section so as to overlieand retain cigarettes placed in said sections parallel to and at rightan le o ai hi e- 3. A cigarette case comprising a pair of generallyrectangular body sections, means to hinge said sections along one edge,one of said sections being of shallow dish formation and of a dimensionin one direction substantially equal to cigarettes of one length and ofa dimension in a right angular direction substantially equal tocigarettes of a different length, a member of skeleton formation hingedalong the hinged edge of said sections comprising an arm extending fromthe hinged portion to adjacent the opposite edge portion of said sectionand a cross piece positioned intermediate the ends of said arms andextending therefrom to adjacent the other two edges of said section soas to laterally cross any cigarettes arranged parallel to the hinge ofsaid sections and across any cigarettes arranged at right angles to thehinge of said sections.

4. A cigarette case comprising a pair of generally rectangular bodysections, one of said sections being of shallow dish formation and of adimension in one direction substantially equal to cigarettes of onelength for receiving the same and of a dimension in a right angulardirection substantially equal to cigarettes of a diiferent length forreceiving the same, and a cigaretteretaining clip of stifi constructionhinged at one end to a section adjacent the peripheral edge of saidsection to swing at right angles to the plane thereof, and comprising anarrow elongated member having some portion lying close to each of thefour edges of the case to overlie and cross any cigarettes placedparallel to and any cigarettes placed at right angles to one edge ofsaid se men- 5- A c gare te pa m fis n a a of erally rectangular bodysections, one of said sections being of shallow dish formation and of adimension inwone direction substantially equal to cigarettes of onelength for receiving the same and of a dimension in a right angulardirection substantially equal to cigarettes of a different length forreceiving the same, and a cigaretteretaining clip comprising a generallyU-shaped member hinged at'the end of one of its arms to an edge of saidsection and having the bight thereof positioned adjacent a second edgeof said section and with the other arm thereof extending from the bightto adjacent the intersection of the other two edges of said section soas to retain any cigarettes placed parallel to and any cigarettes placedat right angles to one edge of said section.

6. A cigarette case comprising a pair of elongated rectangular casesections hinged together, the dimensions of the case being such as toaccommodate cigarettes of a certain length longitudinally of the caseand cigarettes of a different length transversely ,of the case, aone-piece retainer for holding the cigarettes in place, said retainerbeing hingedly secured to the case sections along the common hingethereof and comprising a narrow elongated member having a configurationin plan such as to have some portion thereof lying close to each of thefo ur edges of the case at a point spaced fromthe adjaqchtcorners,whereby said retainer may serve to hold cigarettes in place whether suchcigarettes are disposed longitudinally with respect to the case ortransversely thereof.

JOSEPH F. RIOUX.

